Cesar's Way

Jack in his graduation cap when he graduated from puppy class.

I'm a dog person.  I realized just how much of a dog person I am when Evan and I were out walking with the kids and we would exchange glances and smiles and comments every time a dog passed.  Normal people react that way to babies.  Not us.  We're dog people.

I was blogging across devices and lost most of my post.  I don't have it in my to retype the whole thing so now you're just going to get the basics of the original post.  I read Cesar Milan's book, Cesar's Way. Good read.  Changed the way I think about dogs as pets.
It made me feel guilty for taking so much from my big dogs and not giving what they needed in return, to be dogs.  I won't give you all the details of the book, but it's basically just his philosophy of dog psychology.  It's not really a now-to book like I thought it was going to be.  Check out his website for more details.  The thing that stuck with me the most is that we humanize dogs too much.  It's not fair to them, because they're not humans, they're dogs.  Imposing human traits and mannerisms on them is something we do to understand them and it doesn't really help them be a more fulfilled animal.  They don't need as much affection as we give them, which is hard for me to digest.  They need leadership and exercise.  It make sense, dogs that are cuddled nonstop and coddled are not the best-trained dogs.  Oddly, it's even helping me with my kids.  I read a review of the book and someone that didn't have a dog said that she loved the book because it helped her with her kids and I can see that.  Cesar talks about being the pack leader and being calm-assertive.  Being a calm, strong leader has helped with the mayhem that is my summer with the kids home.  I'm still not totally there--the calm thing is a struggle, but it's something to strive for.  It's a good read.  Check it out.